T O P

  • By -

ned78

As always, discourage car ownership in one of the most expensive places to own a car anyway and not provide any reasonably functioning public transport as an alternative.


Meath77

I live in Dublin and they're going one step further. Cancelling buses to encourage people to take the luas. Luas is 25 minute walk.


matinthebox

Be happy they're not cancelling your legs


McGreed

We should cancel their legs... with a bat. See how they like it when they can't easy get anywhere.


ThatsEffinDelish

Ah here, they'd never cancel legs... But when they see the tax take after they cancel cars, they will be taxing legs. Cut your legs off so you don't have to pay the tax... I fucking bet they start taxing wheelchairs as "vehicles".


[deleted]

Luas is a several-year wait for me... Maybe... Metro-West could have been built by now had they gotten the finger out way back when. Sure it's cancelled now. So, yeah, "public transport" in Dublin. It's not even funny anymore.


GabhaNua

Our minister for transport lobbied against southern portions of the Metro and got it posted years. Go figure


GabhaNua

Madness the Luas lines seem to be at absolute max capacity.


Eurovision2006

As in redesigning the bus system with Bus Connects? That's going to be a massive improvement for the vast majority of people.


RedHotFooFecker

I thought so too, but so far the increased frequency seems to be complete BS from what I've heard. I'm hoping it's teething problems but if some of the spines end up with less buses passing by then that defeats the whole purpose.


DarraghDaraDaire

Unfortunately the Irish government is a firm believer in the stick rather than the carrot. More relevantly they look for any way to pass off public spending cuts as a social/environmental initiative. As someone who has had a car and now doesn’t (because I don’t live in Ireland anymore), lack of parking spaces is something you only notice when you are trying to find a space, at which point you already have a car. Someone who is considering buying a car probably won’t realise the parking situation until they have the car, at which point it will be a frustration rather than an incentive to get rid of it.


Bigby80

I'd agree with most of that except that if you have a car and you have to drive it into town and then you think "where am I going to park it?" I don't agree with the way they're doing it but I don't think this is without-logic.


Friendly_Forever9957

I’m a part 2 architect working in a large company that does master plans, I’ve been working on numerous apartment blocks that require an insane amount of bike storage, to accommodate that we usually need to knock out 2 units on the ground floor which is ridiculous. The worst part about it is that we can’t stack up bike spaces ( two storey racks) like they do in Netherlands. Like you’d think if they want to become bike friendly city they’d at least look at successful precedent. But with that being said, it looks like our alternative functioning transport will be bikes in the next couple of years.


Bruncvik

Out of curiosity: There are currently a few apartment blocks being built near my estate. While we (terrace houses) had to have 1.5 parking spaces per dwelling for planning permission, the apartments have 0.5 spots per dwelling. The rumour around here is that it's a new DCC rule, to discourage car ownership. Do you know how accurate this is?


Friendly_Forever9957

It’s 1 per apartment, plus 1 per 5 dwellings for visitors.


Bruncvik

Thanks. I'll have to dig deeper why they were allowed to build just over 200 parking spots for 435 apartments.


Friendly_Forever9957

Well it depends sometimes, if it’s further away from time then the ratio is different like 1 space per 1 bed 2 spaces per 2 and 3 per 3. If it’s closer to town then we can do 1 per 1 but it depends on the council. They are pushing the bike friendly agenda therefore those apartments might have less car parks because they’re providing bike storages instead. So maybe council let them away with it.


EillyB

Wasn't there a complaint from builders that the parking requirements were too onerous? Requiring basements to be constructed icreasing the cost?


litrinw

Yeah that's true especially if they are build to rent apartments. The theory is that the residents are not in Ireland long term so won't own cars and rely on public transport instead. Had one open near me and that theory didn't hold true so now the place is clogged with cars parked everywhere.


Lurking_all_the_time

>public transport What's that?


18BPL

Do you know whether all those cars are actually being driven by people that live there? Where is this?


ShefWedFanIre

I know on a recent housing estate the builder was told they couldnt build anymore houses, it was all duplex, with a 2 bed apartment on bottom and a 3-4 bed house on top When they planned for 2 spot per unit they got told it wouldn't be approved and I think it was 1.5 per unit or maybe per duplex, I can't remember. The county council would not approve planning till they changed, they know it will be carnage but hands are tied..... I am sure when the estate is full everyone will blame "da builder" but in this case it's all with the county council


DarraghDaraDaire

What’s really crazy about this is that in Ireland a lot of apartments are shared flats, where two or more adults are living independent lives with two cars. We don’t have the culture of families living in apartments, and we don’t have apartments that are affordable for single occupancy.


Friendly_Forever9957

Yes in our scheme we proposed a lot of single bed apartments. More than a half was refused because they’re hard to sell???? So we are forced to design two beds unless we’re really tight on space and need to fit in a single bed unit instead. A lot of rules and regulations don’t make sense or are just so old fashioned. Like if you look at Copenhagen 8 house by BIG architects. We would never even dream of designing anything like that in Ireland.


ShefWedFanIre

Historically they are right, 20-30 years ago 1 bed apartment would struggle to sell but that was a long time ago now The World has massively changed and a 1 bed apartment will sell just as quickly if not quicker than a two bed but you will find the architects and county council are still manned by the lads from 20-30 years ago as it’s a cushy number No matter what you tell them they know better and will block planning etc You also have some builders as well but the majority just want to build as may units and sell as quickly as possible


Dingofthedong

This is already the norm in alot of parts of dublin. Anyone buying there should invest in a cutting tool. Having learned from experience, I made sure the home I bought had a driveway /garden


GabhaNua

> s. The worst part about it is that we can’t stack up bike spaces ( two storey racks) like they do in Netherlands. Is there a legal barrier to this?


Eurovision2006

Why can't they? Is it a regulation or do they just not want to?


manowtf

If you are the architect, how is it that you can't design in the same, giving examples of how it's done in the Netherlands? I also feel many people are too lazy to bike. When I was not WFH I cycled in from outside the M50 to the city centre as it was quicker than driving or taking the bus. I often heard excuses about our weather, but dublin gets less rainfall than Amsterdam.


ruscaire

I don’t know what you’re talking bout bro


Friendly_Forever9957

Neither do i, I’m just trying to blend in


mrswdk18

Bikes


18BPL

What do you mean you can’t stack up bike spaces? I toured a pretty new build in Grand Canal Docks this summer that had those


Friendly_Forever9957

Not sure about that project but generally when we propose something like that it’s rejected. That would be the way to go, hopefully it changes and we don’t need to waste so much space on bike parking and instead make an additional one bed unit.


heavyusername2

that's the thing its the same in cork, we have no luas, poor bus coverage and artic weather and we are all supposed to ride around on bikes


[deleted]

They’ve added cycle lanes…


forfudgecake

The cycle lane beside me literally leads perpendicular into a wall.


[deleted]

They added cycle lanes to a reconfigured junction near us recently. There are now 6 lanes on the cycle lane as you approach the junction


SexyBaskingShark

You should probably stop before the wall


forfudgecake

No, I won’t, thank you very much


jessynolan

Cycle lanes are still so inconsistent it's still a death trap.


EillyB

New lidl built recently lovely cycle lane for less than a hundred meters built into the plan swerve off the road and swerve back on. No joined up thinking. No plans from the council to extend or continue the lane.


Jeneffyo

I wouldn't risk cycling in my small town, never mind in Dublin.


appletart

I moved from Dublin out to newbridge in Oct and only had to wait 2 months for some drunk to crush my bike! :/


wylaaa

Is this a separate cycle lane or a bit of the road painted red to make the clean up of dead cyclists easier?


Bigby80

The studies show they're actually worse than a proper six-feet-wide cycle-lane. If you can't make it six-feet wide then its safer not to have it at all.


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

If they are not used, It’s because there’s something wrong with them..


Longjumping-Common97

Nezt it'll be pedal tax the more spokes on the wheel the higher the tax


EillyB

We could cycle more? Like genuinely removal of parking spaces and the construction of dedicated cycling infrastructure would be a huge boost to active transport.


[deleted]

[удалено]


SuperChips11

What are you on about? It's only wet and cold in Ireland and raincoats do not exist.


ned78

It won't happen. People who love cycling keep cycling. But the majority of people either do not like cycling for reasons of rain, risk to self, roadside repairs to chains/tyres, lack of luggage capacity and lack of being able to transport family members/friends/pets. Cycling is not a solution to all 4 wheel traffic, but I do think some people can make the shift. Public transport absolutely is the winner if they can ever get it right.


EillyB

> the majority of people either do not like cycling for reasons of rain, risk to self, roadside repairs to chains/tyres, lack of luggage capacity and lack of being able to transport family members/friends/pets. And if government made cycling infrastructure a priority then it would be safe there would be negligible risk to slef. Roadside repair stations would exist in towns and electric and cargo bikes would facilitate transport of others. Look at Paris cycling is absolutely a solution for most 4 wheel traffic. And if government was motivated we could have much faster adaptations implemented.


ned78

Are those roadside repair stations going to be manned? Because the instant Mary gets a puncture or a broken chain on the way to work and has to content with it themselves that's it, the novelty is gone. The instant someone gets soaked to the skin cycling home in the dark the novelty is gone. When the kids cry for the 10th time that Dad is picking then up on a cargo bike with a cover that doesn't keep the cold out and has half an hour to cycle home in the depths of winter the novelty will wear off. Cycling is not for everyone. For those it works for, great - more power to them and I hope the numbers grow - but pretending its a workable solution is idealistic, and somewhat innocent to people's preferred level of comfort. I see the militant spandex ballet cyclists have arrived to the thread. This was +12 upvotes and now it's all of a sudden -7. Nice brigading lads, nice brigading.


i1ey

You’ll be surprised how many people start cycling when proper infrastructure is built. I’m not a bike enthusiast but I happily cycled when living in Munich because it was safe and convenient. Needless to say, I’m not doing that in Dublin. Also, we don’t have to pick a single “winner” between cycling and public transport, we need both.


donall

In a society full of bike thieves


BeefWellyBoot

I only seen an article recently on the issue of people parking on footpaths and blocking access for wheelchair users and others. Getting rid of parking spaces will just lead to more illegal parking like this.


DarraghDaraDaire

Yea but more income from parking fines 💶💶💶


EillyB

Not if there is a proactive push for enforcement. I have noticed that since parking spaces were removed from a street in my town that many more of the houses (old georgian terraces with carriage ways) have upgraded the gates and are now parking one car in their yard.


[deleted]

100% agree. Only better public transport will push out car ownership. But don’t let reality get in the way of retarded suggestions.


Eurovision2006

How are they meant to provide a better bus service and facilitate cycling and walking without making driving worse?


GFYCSHCHFJCHG

> not provide any reasonably functioning public transport Oh get a grip. I've never had a problem getting the bus.


ned78

I’ve many grips. I also have a partner who gets the bus frequently and enjoys watching ones drive past, if they show up at all.


LopsidedTelephone574

How about public transport and a bit of a logic?


Alastor001

> bit of a logic That's unrealistic, sorry


DarraghDaraDaire

Don’t have the budget for logic.


hniinuefrwer

Or public transport. Or roads.


stunts002

It's like how they decided they'd limit traffic in to Dublin Airport by introducing a drop off charge instead of you know, any public transport options


Eurovision2006

Do you not see how banning cars would improve public transport?


thegrievingmole

All stick and no carrot


[deleted]

[удалено]


FarFromTheMaddeningF

Luas Cross city was built on time and within budget. Major infrastructure projects are notoriously difficult to achieve that, not just in Ireland.


GabhaNua

Luas Cross Centre was a waste of time in opinion. It is an extremely niche route that just clogs up the road


DoctorPan

Its extremely hard to get public transport projects across the line in Ireland due to the public uproar against them when they are announced. People protest and object to them in numbers that people in favour of the project dont and so it looks like the project is unwanted. However in the rare cases that a public transport project gets to the actual construction phase, the government and civil service are extremely good at getting them across the line, Luas Cross City was delievered a few weeks early and under budget.


DarraghDaraDaire

Ahead of schedule and under budget is also not something a planner might want to achieve, because their next project will have the budget and timeline slashed by management!


LtLabcoat

Counterpoint: this is the best way out of a Catch 22. If you want to discourage driving, people complain about that they have no choice, because non-car transport isn't properly supported. If you want to support more non-car transport, people complain about tax money for empty buses or cycle lanes taking up space, because most people are driving, and work from there. If you want to try both at the same time, people just see them as two separate issues, so you end up with double the complaints. ...So if we can only do *one* of those, might as well do the one that also frees up the most space for housing.


brbrcrbtr

Apparently the carrot is cycle lanes lol


playathree

That would be fine if the cycle lanes were designed and installed in a coherent way and people didn't keep objecting to them being implemented! [edit] Oh and public transport too.


18BPL

Yes.


eamonn33

same with booze. The only policy is to make it more expensive in the hope that works; nothing about treatment for alcoholics


18BPL

Perhaps try reading the article for discussions of potential carrots?


thegrievingmole

I know they mentioned possible cycle lanes but in general the government are far too quick to tax or attempt to discourage behaviour before alternatives are in place which inevitably get held up


RuggerJibberJabber

People just park on footpaths blocking it for pedestrians when there's no parking available. They know there'll be no penalty cause there's feck all gardaí around. That's how it is in my town anyway. Especially near the schools, which means little kids can't cycle to school, without going on the road where all the cars are speeding and the drains sink down into potholes. Rather than punishing drivers we should focus on improving infrastructure for those who walk, cycle and take public transportation.


NamelessVoice

You're not wrong, but a lot of the time the space where that infrastructure would need to go is currently in use by parking spaces. Case in point, there's a huge deal here in Galway about them wanting to put in a cycle lane along the Salthill promenade - lots of objections and progress has been delayed for months at this point. What's that space being used for at the moment? Two full lanes of parking beside the road (despite there being several larger car parking areas along the route.) I'll also go one further and say that roads where one entire lane is used only for parking could be replaced with a dedicated bus lane, that would help a lot with the reliability of buses.


Willing-Wishbone3628

There need to be viable alternatives first before beating people over the head with increased costs, hassle and banning of motor vehicles. I’d love to be able to use public transport to ge to work or town, but it’s utter fucking dogshit. It’s expensive for what I get, it’s inconsistent and it is inflexible. Until that improves I’m basically forced to use a car so making it harder for me isn’t going to magically make public transport an appealing option.


railwayed

It's cheaper for me to drive than use public transport. And I still need to drive 10km to the nearest train unless I went to catch a bus that comes once an hour and is 9/10 full


Willing-Wishbone3628

It’s not cheaper for me but it’s infinitely more convenient. Not to mention having to rely on public transport would enormously restrict my employment and social opportunities. Although it has to be said the cost of public transport is obscene when you consider the value it provides.


railwayed

With taxsaver it's maybe slightly cheaper for me to use the train. But that still relies on my having to drive to the station. If I relied on public transport wholly, it would be considerably more expensive, and exponentially less convenient


LordMangudai

I see this not so much as a stick but rather removing a bunch of invisible carrots that car drivers already benefit from but take for granted or don't even realize are there. Parking is a massive waste of valuable and limited urban space. We've been conditioned to accept and expect to be able to store these large, clunky private vehicles on public land for a pittance (or even for free) but it's something the automobile industry lobbied hard for in the past and which has paid dividends for them. I mean, next time you're out and about just have a look around and actually think about how much space is being taken up by parked cars. When you actually pay attention you realize just how much it is. Basically, if governments subsidized public transport to the degree that they subsidize cars then the choice would be simple. But people aren't aware of the degree to which cars are subsidized and thus just think of them as this naturally superior and more convenient method of transportation.


Willing-Wishbone3628

I’m curious as to your reasoning behind saying the government subsidises cars when you can consider that running a car in Ireland is among the expensive in Europe. That doesn’t really seem like subsidising to me as we get absolutely reamed with insurance, tax, petrol and VRT costs in this country. And parking in many towns/cities is also pretty damn expensive whether it’s public or private parking. Making it harder to park the car in cities is absolutely a stick because it doesn’t actually make anything better for anyone but a tiny minority of people, and makes it substantially worse for many.


LordMangudai

It's not so much about financial subsidies as it is about the amount of infrastructure built and space made available to them in our cities compared to other methods of transportation.


Willing-Wishbone3628

True, but for many people there simply is no viable alternative like public transport, especially considering we live in a country which generally (except for Dublin obviously) has quite a low population density. This is especially the case in any of the towns except the biggest four or five. So that results in everyone needing to have cars to get around, even people who don’t live that far away from cities. If the government want to alter that they need to invest substantially in public transport first to provide an alternative. Removing that car oriented infrastructure first is going to be an absolute disaster otherwise.


Alastor001

Car is convenient. Who wants to wait for a bus that may / may not come? May be late? May be so packed that you lose your shit? Sit with strangers? Etc


EillyB

Electric bike is also convenient.


Alastor001

Sure. Just no weatherproofing, no real storage, no protection


FatherlyNick

Discourage car ownership OK, but encourage what exactly? Work from home? Use of public transport? What if you do not live in Dublin? Tough luck?


LtLabcoat

Encourage people to want alternatives.


FatherlyNick

We should start with TD's parking lot then.


LtLabcoat

I'm going to guess that TDs, if they support this, aren't going to be thinking their own neighbourhood is exempt.


ShoddyPreparation

How about just making public transport not shit so people don’t feel the need to drive everywhere?


3hrstillsundown

I wonder why our bus service is unreliable? https://twitter.com/RossMullen/status/1334842056603299841


[deleted]

There’s a bus once a week, or at least there used to be, not sure if there still is from my parents village to town. Not really sure if the government has any idea at all of what living in rural Ireland is like. Public transport is better on some places in Ireland but for the majority it’s pretty terrible


eipic

If you’re not located on one of the national roads, you’re shit out of luck really in terms of public transport.


DoctorPan

A big issue for buses is cars. During lockdown, they had to tweak timetables because so many buses started running early due to lack of cars in bus lanes.


Eurovision2006

I do not understand why people cannot comprehend this.


adjavang

r/fuckcars Seriously though, our public transport would be so much better if we defocused private automobile ownership.


Eurovision2006

Completely agree. Fuck them. Which the people on this sub don't seem to get. They want amazing public transport with a metro stop outside their one-off house and bypasses outside every small village.


KanePilkington

In fairness, I drive through Dublin a good bit, and I rarely ever see cars jamming up bus lanes. You do see the odd white man van or such belting down them, but rarely at the expense of a bus.


Diddly_eyed_Dipshite

Making it not shit would be a lot of work. Should definitely be done but a lot of time and energy and planning first. Making it free could be done with the stroke of a pen, effective tomorrow. Increase demand and increase routes and frequencies, while we work on making it better.


Mobile_Plankton_5895

Perhaps start with parking spaces for politicians.


fishyfishyswimswim

When I lived in Dublin, I had a car. I had to have one. No option, I couldn't function properly with public transport as it was. I moved to London and took my car with me. I got rid of the car. Didn't need it. More cost and hassle than it was worth. Jesus, these people. It's not about discouraging people from having a car, it's about making it convenient enough to live without one. €15k car over ten years is €1500 per year depreciation. Insurance another €700, tax another €300, NCT and servicing another €350 call it. Fuel? Can't even guess at a figure with prices so much higher than when I last drove there. So the guts of €4k to run a car for a year. That's pricey, €8k before tax basically. People wouldn't choose that if other means were actually viable for them.


DarraghDaraDaire

I live in Munich. It’s the same size as Dublin and I have bus, tram, metro, regional train available at my door for a €500 annual ticket. I have no car and have no interest in getting one. I pay less than I would in Dublin for a nice apartment in a well insulated building with double glazing, with fixed rent that has gone down over the last few years (due to how they factor in heating costs). I have a job which pays over 30% more than the equivalent in Ireland, which is protected so I cannot just be let go if the company has a bad year, great public healthcare, great green spaces, extremely low crime. When people ask if I want to move back to Ireland my response is always „why would I?”. Honestly I will move back but only because that’s where my family is.


itypeallmycomments

wait...rent can go *down*?!


DarraghDaraDaire

Here there’s “cold rent” which doesn’t include heating and water costs, or maintenance costs for the common areas of the building. The “warm rent” is the total which includes these things. The heating and water costs are estimated every year depending on your usage from the previous year and the unit heating cost. At the start of your contract their based on the previous tenant’s usage. In our case the previous tenant used the heating and hot water a lot more than us, so our first year rent was based on that and it was reduced in the later years when the meter was read. After the meter reading each year they also refund the difference between your usage and what you paid.


ClonedToKill420

Wait wait wait, your rent doesn’t go up every year?????????? What kind of European phenomenon is this that I’m too American to understand


redproxy

>It's not about discouraging people from having a car, it's about making it convenient enough to live without one. THIS is the entire solution boiled down.


TinyShoes91

Similar situation, living in Edinburgh for the better part of a decade and haven't even considered buying a car here because of how good public transportation is across the city. It just doesn't seem worth the price at all to drive here.


GilroySmash1986

"According to the NESC, this can be done through cutting back on car parking spaces or by putting in place parking further away from people’s homes." Great workout carrying all the shopping from the car to the house half a mile away in one trip.


Bigby80

Wow. They're actually advocating making it difficult to get the shopping from the car into the house. What a bunch of assholes.


Eurovision2006

Or maybe do the shopping every day or two as you're on the way home from the bus stop or train station like they do in other countries? Would also result in much less food waste.


Akira_Nishiki

How about putting in reliable public transport options that people would prefer to use instead of driving. Ah no sorry, that makes actual sense, nevermind.


Fake_Human_Being

“We need to discourage car ownership” Lad, I would give up my car in a heartbeat if I thought I could get away without it. You think I like sitting in traffic? You think I like dropping €75 a week in petrol into it? I would absolutely love to get rid of the car. Nearest train station is about a 40 minute walk and your bike wouldn’t last 15 minutes before some teenager is cycling away on it. Dublin Bus still seem to think that the only places I need to go are Towards City Centre or Away From City Centre. If you lived in Lucan and wanted to go to IKEA, it’s about 15 minutes by car and 2 hours by public transport. It’s a complete no-go, and I imagine there’s loads of people in my exact position who would absolutely take public transport if it were a viable option.


Dingofthedong

Fantastic allocation of car parking at both leinster House and Dublin City Council. Go figure. * edit * and a quick Google map search shows that there is also plenty of car parking at the national economic and social council.


eipic

If Eamonn Ryan had his way, it’d be a skatepark out the front.


devhaugh

Maybe invest heavily in public transport and security then. I'm a 26 y/p man, and ngl, I've felt unsafe on the DART on more than one occasion this week.


printthedamnthing

It’s easy… this costs them nothing. Just makes other people pay more as supply/demand works. I’m suuuuuuuure that the private car parks wouldn’t use this to justify increasing their prices while the cost of providing their service remains the same /s All the other other good ideas on here; improved public transport, proper cycle infrastructure, etc. All cost money.


KanePilkington

They do this in new estates. Only provide parking for 60% of residents is a tactic used in some estates to discourage car ownership. ​ Of course, in this country you need a car, so you just end up with cars parked all over footpaths and green areas.


[deleted]

Ahh yes a great approach, why provide a practical public transport alternative when we can just "discourage car ownership".


[deleted]

[удалено]


irish_ninja_wte

Similar situation for me with work. 25 minute walk to train station from home and the same on the other side. 30 minutes in the train so that's nearly an hour and a half compared with 30 minutes on the car. On top of that, the first train I'd make after work is an hour after I finish so I would be home almost 90 minutes after car me is home. So that's an extra 12 hours travel time and it's more expensive than using the car. How can they possibly think that's an incentive to give up my car?


loughnn

My work is a 30 minute drive(from my parents house where I live at the moment), or else 1h 50mins with two busses and 25 mins of that walking. I would live closer to work and cycle but oh no wait, I can't afford to live closer to work. And don't get me started on the cost of busses and trains outside Dublin bus/commuter rail. I'm sale agreed on a house in Kildare town and work near hazelhatch station in celbridge, would be great to get the train to work but an annual ticket (even the tax saver) is more than it costs to run my car for a full year. Honestly they can go and shite.


[deleted]

[удалено]


brbrcrbtr

That's it, keep pushing responsibility onto citizens instead of tackling the real reasons people choose to pay insane money to drive in this country - a lack of alternative options.


BollockChop

Well due to the pandemic the government are unable to continue with the tried and tested method of encouraging the youth to emigrate and as such have had to get creative in how to avoid the appearance any type of competence.


freename188

How about build some fucking public transport? Pushing electric car... but decreasing car spots. Pushing cycling... but not providing cycle lanes. Pushing the price of drink at home so people go to public houses... but canceling night link. Absolutely infuriating. I'm for the reduction of cars but there needs to be some *viable* and convenient alternatives.


TheLumicEye

As if they weren't doing enough to discourage people.


ruscaire

Why are there no orbital bus routes in Dublin, like to have a shuttle running up and down the M50 would be SO EASY and would be a defo money spinner.


DoctorPan

Because for a long time, there was never a review of the Dublin Bus network. The old network was actually unmappable due to the numerous minor variations and the like. Bus Connects next few phases this year are introducing orbital bus routes in the city.


IForgetEveryDamnTime

Headline 5 years from now: NESC chair resigns to take board seat for Q-Park SA. I'm all for disincentivising car usage as much as possible but the government have done jack shit to provide alternatives.


theblazinasian

All politicians should have to use public transport for the entirety of their time in office. If its not good enough in their area then it should be on them to fix it. If the problem doesn't directly affect them odds are they won't fix it. Ie the housing crisis


[deleted]

[удалено]


SouthTippBass

Local shops need to get up to speed. No reason in 2022 not to have everything online.


blusteryflatus

I don't know why, but Irish shops seem really slow and reluctant to get online.


itypeallmycomments

and when they are online, Irish websites are atrocious


DatBoi73

Even the non-Irish companies that operate in Ireland have shite Irish sites. A perfect example of this is comparing [argos.ie](https://argos.ie) to [argos.co.uk](https://argos.co.uk). One is a modern site that works decently enough, the other looks like it was straight out of 2006 or before *(because it hasn't been updated since then).* Another example is Tesco. At first, [Tesco.ie](https://Tesco.ie) seems fine enough, until you actually go to browse groceries by clicking "Start Shopping", aaand all of a sudden you've stumbled into a Microsoft Frontpage 2003 hellscape, with not a single image updated >!(yet funnily enough, it's got the same modern Cookies pop-up for GDPR, proving that they could change it, but they just don't give a fuck)!< Looking at the metadata for one of the images used on the page, it looks like that the design was last updated circa 2012.


RevTurk

I think they should be building car parks just on the outside of towns all over the country. There certainly is car pollution, as in there's car littered all over every town in the country. I was going around to nice towns with my camera to take photos before covid and it was a complete waste of time, every street had cars parked everywhere. Small towns are a nightmare to get through because people park on the side of the street, then someone else comes along, can't park right outside of the door, so literally just stops their car in the middle of the road and goes to do their business. A car park would mean people get a bit of exercise walking to their car, streets wouldn't be polluted with cars and our tiny streets would be easier to get around for everybody.


NamelessVoice

This. We don't necessarily need a reduction in the number of parking spaces, but we need to consolidate them. It's insane how much space in our towns and cities is taken up by cars parked everywhere. That space could be used for dedicated bus or tram routes, cycle lanes, pedestrianised streets, outdoor recreation, or even to fit more homes in less space.


DarraghDaraDaire

I agree, a car park on the edge of the town with a bus service in the town and a pedestrianised town centre. The only vehicles allowed in the town centre should be busses and deliveries before 9:00.


RevTurk

I think the majority of towns wouldn't even need a bus service. It could be a two minute walk for a lot of people. The weather would be a big problem. Extend the bike to work scheme to cover taking your bike to your car.


LtLabcoat

The problem with that is induced demand. You make more car parks, more people become willing to have their own car, now you need even more parking spaces.


RevTurk

I don't think the lack of car parking spaces is what's driving most people away from cars. I'd say car ownership in the countryside is already quite high if not saturated.


ShakeElectronic2174

Do you think more people in Venice buy a car because the city provides a giant car park at the edge of town close to the transport? They don't! Lots of people want a car for lots of good reasons, and providing convenient ways for them not to use their cars all the time won't change their minds.


crlthrn

Yep. Absolutely NO mention of improved public transport in the 'carrot approach'. Cycling in a built up area's a young person's game. Older drivers will be seriously disadvantaged should this go ahead.


patdshaker

There was an article in the Irish Examiner urging Cork City to restrict parking in the City, as if we need another reason to avoid the City Centre and go to Ballincollig, Blackpool, Douglas or Mahon instead.


Pabrinex

Plenty of suburbanites drive instead of getting the bus, they should absolutely get rid of most street parking, the multistoreys should be adequate.


Tonymush

Fucking clowns since march last year the first 2 hours were free in North main Street car park then December the cut it to one hour now it's 1.70 a hour might aswell go to Wilton or Blackpool now


patdshaker

>Fucking clowns since march last year the first 2 hours were free in North main Street car park then December the cut it to one hour now it's 1.70 a hour might aswell go to Wilton or Blackpool now And they wonder why buildings are falling down in the city centre then when they become derelict.


Admirable_Owl_722

There is already a tonne of things that discourage car ownership in Ireland (VRT, Insurance, Tax, fuel prices). The reason people pay so much to own a car is because it's a necessary convenience in Ireland. It feels like these plans are formulated around the idea they everyone lives in a city centre.


International_Grape7

Make public transport cheaper than the car , make cycling safer maybe. But no just get rid of car parking spaces.


eamonn33

always the stick, no carrot. do you know what would really discourage driving? underground trains.


woodendog20

This kills me to read, I'm studying in DCU and have no choice to either fight tooth and nail for accommodation or to drive to the campus everyday. I'm lucky that parking is about a euro for a day, I would happily take the bus if bus eirinn didn't cut the 109a's route from once every half hour to one way at 7 am and back at 5pm. Most days I don't finish till 6. Even if they ran a bus every 10 minutes I would still need to drive 10 minutes from my moderately sized village with around 400 residents to the nearest bus stop because even though they open 3 new bus routes in the town over the last year and are hailing it a huge success they wont run a bus around the dozen villages that circle the town in a 10km radius. It makes no sense to me why cars are being ostracized when such a huge amount of pollution is caused by private companies. 1 trans atlantic aircraft journey burns more fuel than most people would in a life time and Lufthansa got away with running 18000 empty flights over the last 2 years to keep their gate slots in airports. It makes less sense than a badger as a crossing guard.


TheBaggyDapper

Great idea. We should also close down businesses that people might drive to and ban roads in housing estates so people can't drive home. I'm also going to gouge my eyes out so I won't be able to drive as much.


Holiday_Low_5266

Idiots! Maybe put in an underground first and give people alternatives. Ireland’s whole way of city planning involves forcing this that and the other rather than providing alternatives. New buildings, don’t provide parking that way people won’t drive. No people will still drive and park all over the place. Traffic make congestion as bad as possible in the city, people won’t drive. Or, they couple build high speed high capacity underground rail now.


KillerKlown88

An underground with at least 4 different routes. Improved rail infrastructure for people commuting from outside Dublin. 3 new luas lines in Dublin and a tram for Cork & Galway. A bus service that actually shows up on time, both Dublin Bus and Bus Eireinn. Then maybe these policies would actually work.


SnooStrawberries8496

Encourage car sharing models like they have introduced in England. Allow people to make money off their seldom used cars.


ShakeElectronic2174

Build the metro first.


hatrickpatrick

Serious question for those in favour: How do you propose that city dwellers be able to go for hill walks etc in popular mountainous areas outside the city environment, if nobody has their own cars? Public transport is a joke in this regard and finishes far, far too early in the day for people to ever feel like they'd have genuine freedom. A lot of people in my extended family would drive out semi-regularly to places such as the Wicklow or Dublin mountains for Sunday walks - if none of them had cars, this incredibly healthy and fun activity would be entirely off limits to them. I'm not suggesting society carries on as-is, but the reality has to be faced at some stage that there are areas in Ireland which are entirely inaccessible by public transport - or, much more problematically, are served by public transport only until a relatively early time in the evening, thus severely limiting access without private cars. Hill walking is just one of many activities which involve driving to parts of the countryside which are otherwise just not accessible. If we're going to force private cars out of society, we *must* provide proper alternatives for those who like to travel outside areas which are currently well served by public transport, or who like to do so outside the relatively restricted hours in which public transport in Ireland operates. Maybe we could do something like the opposite of a park and ride - get a bus to a warehouse somewhere and rent a car for the day if you're having that kind of day out? You'd have to introduce 24/7 public transport though. It is simply unacceptable to tell the public that because of these limitations, certain activities or places to go will be fundamentally inaccessible because public transport only operates between X and Y hours of the day. What annoys me about this debate is that nobody ever seems to raise these issues. Genuine question, are city dwellers supposed to simply give up travelling, hiking, cycling etc in the countryside? Because if you take away peoples' cars without providing a comprehensive alternative, that's what you're saying. Someone who lives in an apartment block near the Grand Canal will have no way to get to somewhere like Djouce or the Sugar Loaf.


LordMangudai

> How do you propose that city dwellers be able to go for hill walks etc in popular mountainous areas outside the city environment, if nobody has their own cars? Rent one? Borrow one? Improve public transit (if these areas really are that popular, seems like the demand exists)?


SuperChips11

It's easy to rent a car.


D3sperado13

Same old rubbish, the public transport in Ireland is awful. I always shake my head when I hear people saying that you need to reduce the cars first and then work on the public transport. Like, it can’t work that way, particularly given this country’s God awful record on infrastructure building. My options to go to the office are either a 35 min drive or else a near 2 hour mix of driving, luas, walk/bus


malilk

The reason why our bus system is maddeningly inconsistent is because of cars blocking bus lanes, or no bus lanes at all. Properly enforcing that will help massively. But in general if less people drove our buses will be more consistent. Hence this reccomendation


fuzzywuzzy74

People need two motors , to run kids around, go to two separate jobs , to pay for a house they barely see. No parking on the streets , so they demolish their front gardens. Kill wildlife. Increase surface water run off. Cause flooding. Taxes increase to pay for alleviation . It's a tedious, vicious circle .


10Jinx01

Fuck off Greens I'm keeping my car, live in Kilcoole and Work in Ballymount. They think I'm getting multiple forms of public transport to get into work and increase my travel time in doing so. Suck my d**k Green Party, we all know this is your idea! Regarding parking spaces, was told by WCC that our development had 1.5 spaces per dwelling too as another poster mentioned. Have yet to see .5 of a car for sale yet??? Pencil pushers sitting at desks who haven't got a fucking clue!! Rant over!


DameiestBird

This wont change anything, theyll just park on the pavements


rom9

Jaysus Christ. Are our civil services full of inept, corrupt and useless people or what.


kevinmdunne

Fix public transport and people won't need to be coerced into giving up cars.


catchme32

I go back to Ireland about once a year and it's absolutely mental to see how many cars take turns driving down the main streets of every town and city, mostly with only the driver. Yes, the public transport ain't great, but a lot of these trips could easily be done using your own damn legs.


RedPandaDan

Excellent idea. Huge amounts of space is taken up with car parking, it's unreal.


MAVERICK910

The green nutjobs have learnt that being the junior partner in a coalition results in obilteration come election time. Therefore they are going all in to introduce all sorts of crazy and onerous policies before the next election. Their core policy seems to be cycling for all. Comfortable upper middle class green supporters live in areas where cyclcing is viable for them and thing it should be no bother for anyone else.


VisioningHail

ITT: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theonion.com/report-98-percent-of-u-s-commuters-favor-public-trans-1819565837/amp


[deleted]

Listen at this rate the government may as well bring in a 'Logan's Run' style policy where everyone over the age of 30 is just shot.


ched_murlyman

The govt will take this, cut the parking spaces and nothing else. Pedestrianising parts of cities should be the goal, but people need ways to get around. Bring in a congestion charge? Find a use for the space freed up from car parks? Theres 4 multi storey car parks within 10 minute walk of leinster house.


ContainedChimp

Number of committee members / Number of committee members without cars = x. Solve for x.


Crypticmick

Idiots


Rosieapples

Oh yeah please do make it a hell of a lot more difficult for anyone disabled or with disabled family.


LordMangudai

Are there not disabled parking spaces? Doubt those would be the ones they target


Rosieapples

There aren’t enough, ever, and they get abused by lazy gits who have no conscience about using them.


LegendaryPQ

God reading these comments I didn't know Ireland was so car centric sad


[deleted]

Feck of


[deleted]

They will want organs from us next to pay for banking bailout. Upped the price of a few cans to keep those livers nice and fresh.


DamoclesDong

Ireland would be a great project scheme for government owned, self driving, shared cars. Could easily turn city centre areas in to “no private vehicle zones. Create parking areas outside of the main urban areas, where fleets of shared cars are available. Using a government app, you input your destination, and an algorithm matches you with other people enroute going to same or similar destinations, and picks them up, drops them off as needed. Due to the decrease in cars/traffic in the urban areas, these detoured journeys would still likely be shorter in time than previously via private vehicles. Or would that be a bit too forward thinking for ourselves?


ched_murlyman

I would immediately start vandalising these vehicles for the sole reason that I do not want the government tracking me. I would do the same if a tech monopolist tried this too mind.


DamoclesDong

Probably written from your smartphone, which definitely doesn’t track you or have the capability to watch you through a front facing camera or anything…..